On Drupal 11.4, the Standard profile installs Olivero for the front end and Claro for administration, both from core. Drupal 11.5 deprecates both and switches to the new core Default Admin theme, based on Gin's design. Drupal 12 removes Olivero and Claro, so a site that keeps them adds the contributed projects before upgrading. Drupal CMS installs Mercury and Gin.
' - '@type': Question name: 'Can I use a Drupal 9 or Drupal 10 theme on Drupal 11?' acceptedAnswer: '@type': Answer text: 'Only if the theme declares Drupal 11 support; Drupal refuses to install a theme that does not. The release notes and the project page on drupal.org show which Drupal versions each release supports. Every theme on this list supports Drupal 11.
' - '@type': Question name: 'Are these themes free?' acceptedAnswer: '@type': Answer text: 'Yes. Everything published on drupal.org is open source under the GPL, which is why commercial theme marketplaces are not on this list. Some maintainers sell services or paid products around their theme; the theme itself is free to install.
' - '@type': Question name: 'How do I install a Drupal 11 theme?' acceptedAnswer: '@type': Answer text: 'Add the project with Composer (composer require drupal/<machine_name>), then go to Appearance and choose Install and set as default. Some themes need another project first: TheX for Xara, BaseCore for Bootstrap Business, the DXPR Theme Helper module for DXPR Theme, and the AT Tool module to generate an AdaptiveTheme sub-theme. Base themes and starter kits add a step: generate a sub-theme first, following the theme's README. DXPR Theme's steps are in the subtheme guide.
' - '@type': Question name: 'Which theme should I pick for a page builder?' acceptedAnswer: '@type': Answer text: 'It depends on the builder. DXPR Builder outputs Bootstrap 5 markup, so a Bootstrap 5 theme styles its grid, cards and buttons without extra work: DXPR Theme is built for it, and Barrio, Radix, Bootstrap5, Belgrade and Bootstrap Business are Bootstrap 5 themes as well. Drupal Canvas, the page builder in Drupal CMS, works with themes that provide Single Directory Components, such as Mercury. Layout Builder works with any theme.
' - '@type': BlogPosting headline: 'Best Drupal 11 themes in 2026: 16 free themes, checked' description: 'Drupal 11 and the coming Drupal 12 are reshaping Drupal''s themes. Olivero and Claro, core''s defaults since Drupal 9.4, are deprecated in Drupal 11.5 and removed in Drupal 12, which brings a Gin-based admin theme into core. Bootstrap 5 themes have replaced Bootstrap 3 base themes for new builds, and Drupal CMS ships its own theme, Mercury. Many "best Drupal themes" lists still recommend themes that no longer support Drupal 11.' about: - planet-remove - 'Drupal Themes' - 'free drupal themes' - 'DXPR Theme' - 'drupal theme' image: '@type': ImageObject url: 'https://dxpr.com/sites/default/files/blog/themes-2026/dxpr_theme.webp' width: '1440' height: '900' datePublished: '2026-10-23T07:00:30+0000' dateModified: '2026-10-23T08:27:15+0000' author: '@type': Person name: 'DXPR Marketing Team' publisher: '@type': Organization '@id': 'https://dxpr.com/#organization' name: DXPR url: 'https://dxpr.com/' logo: '@type': ImageObject url: 'https://dxpr.com/themes/custom/dxpr_com/dxpr-logo-dark.svg' width: '1348' height: '501' mainEntityOfPage: 'https://dxpr.com/drupal-blog/best-drupal-11-themes' articleSection: 'Drupal Themes' - '@type': WebPage '@id': 'https://dxpr.com/drupal-blog/best-drupal-11-themes' description: 'Drupal 11 and the coming Drupal 12 are reshaping Drupal''s themes. Olivero and Claro, core''s defaults since Drupal 9.4, are deprecated in Drupal 11.5 and removed in Drupal 12, which brings a Gin-based admin theme into core. Bootstrap 5 themes have replaced Bootstrap 3 base themes for new builds, and Drupal CMS ships its own theme, Mercury. Many "best Drupal themes" lists still recommend themes that no longer support Drupal 11.' publisher: '@type': Organization '@id': 'https://dxpr.com/#organization' name: DXPR inLanguage: en --- [Blog](/blog) / Best Drupal 11 themes in 2026: 16 free themes, checked # Best Drupal 11 themes in 2026: 16 free themes, checked **DXPR Marketing Team** 23 October 2026 Drupal 11 and the coming Drupal 12 are reshaping Drupal's themes. Olivero and Claro, core's defaults since Drupal 9.4, are deprecated in Drupal 11.5 and removed in Drupal 12, which brings a Gin-based admin theme into core. Bootstrap 5 themes have replaced Bootstrap 3 base themes for new builds, and Drupal CMS ships its own theme, Mercury. Many "best Drupal themes" lists still recommend themes that no longer support Drupal 11. So we started over. Every theme below was checked on 23 October 2026: its latest release on drupal.org, the Drupal versions that release supports, and when it last shipped. All of them support Drupal 11, and all of them are free and open source. For each one you get what it is built on, who it suits, and an image of the theme, its demo or its project logo. We make DXPR Theme and list it first; every theme is described from the same sources. **In short:** to brand a site from settings, look at DXPR Theme or Solo. For a developer-built Bootstrap 5 theme, Barrio, Radix or Bootstrap5. For a Drupal Commerce store, Belgrade. For an accessible content site without a framework, Olivero. For the admin side, Gin, or core's new Default Admin theme from Drupal 11.5. ## The 16 themes at a glance | Theme | Type | Latest release | Drupal | Best for | |---|---|---|---|---| | DXPR Theme | Front-end, Bootstrap 5 | 8.2.2, 15 Oct 2026 | 10.3 to 11 | Branding from settings; DXPR Builder sites | | Barrio | Base, Bootstrap 5 | 5.5.22, 17 Oct 2026 | 11.2 to 12 | Developer-built Bootstrap sub-themes | | Radix | Base, Bootstrap 5 | 6.0.9, 17 Sep 2026 | 10.3 to 12 | Component builds with Node.js | | Solo | Front-end, W3.CSS | 1.0.39, 22 Oct 2026 | 10.1 to 12 | Many options, no build step | | Tara | Front-end | 11.0.9, 4 May 2026 | 9 to 11 | Small business and portfolio sites | | Vani | Front-end | 11.0.2, 17 Oct 2025 | 9 to 11 | Business and consulting sites | | Xara | Front-end, TheX sub-theme | 11.0.1, 17 Sep 2025 | 9 to 11 | Multipurpose sites | | Belgrade | Commerce, Bootstrap 5 | 3.1.0, 12 Aug 2026 | 10 and 11 | Drupal Commerce stores | | Bootstrap5 | Base, Bootstrap 5 | 4.0.8, 13 Feb 2026 | 10.1 to 11 | Plain Bootstrap 5, as is or sub-themed | | Olivero | Front-end | In core; 2.0.0, 21 Sep 2026 | 11.4 to 12 | Accessible content sites | | Bootstrap Business | Front-end, BaseCore sub-theme | 2.0.1, 26 Jun 2025 | 10 and 11 | Company sites, Drupal CMS | | Tailwind CSS Starter Kit | Starter kit | 5.0.0, 25 May 2026 | 8 to 11 | Teams that work in Tailwind | | ZURB Foundation | Base, Foundation 6 | 9.0.0-beta3, 15 Dec 2025 | 9.3 to 11 | Existing Foundation projects | | AdaptiveTheme | Base and generator | 7.1.1, 2 Feb 2025 | 10 and 11 | Existing AdaptiveTheme sites | | Gin | Admin | 5.0.16, 14 Oct 2026 | 11.2 to 11.x | Editorial teams | | Claro and Default Admin | Admin, in core | Claro 3.0.0, 19 Sep 2026 | 11.5 to 12 | Core's own admin experience | **Pick a theme, then let AI do the branding.** A theme gives you structure; the brand, the pages and the translations still need doing. With DXPR Theme's agent skill, a coding agent sets colors, typography and the header layout from a brand brief, through the same settings the dashboard uses, for you to review on the site. DXPR Builder turns a brief into an editable page. [See the agent skills](/drupal-agent-skills). ## How to read this list - **Front-end themes** are ready to use: install, set as default, configure. - **Base themes and starter kits** expect a developer to build a sub-theme; they give you the framework and the build tooling. - **Admin themes** change the editing side only. - **Releases and compatibility** come from drupal.org's release feed on 23 October 2026. A theme whose last release is more than a year old is marked as such, and so is a beta, because Drupal security advisories do not cover beta releases. ## 1. DXPR Theme: a Bootstrap 5 theme you brand from settings **Front-end theme · 8.2.2, released 15 October 2026 · Drupal 10.3 and 11.** DXPR Theme is a Bootstrap 5 theme configured from its settings dashboard: colors, typography, layout, header and menus, with a live preview while you change them. It uses the Bootstrap5 project as its base theme, needs the DXPR Theme Helper and Media Library Form Element modules, runs without jQuery, can host Google Fonts locally and ships a WCAG AAA high-contrast color scheme. It works with Layout Builder and standard content forms on its own, and it shares one Bootstrap 5 design system with DXPR Builder in DXPR CMS. What sets it apart is an optional AI color palette generator, through the Drupal AI module; like Barrio and Radix, it also ships an agent skill (`drush dxt:setup-ai`) so a coding agent can configure the brand from a brief. dxpr.com runs on it. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/dxpr_theme) · [Product page](/premium-drupal-theme) · [Live demo](https://try.dxpr.com). ## 2. Barrio: a Bootstrap 5 base theme for custom sub-themes **Base theme · 5.5.22, released 17 October 2026 · Drupal 11.2 and 12.** Barrio replaces Drupal's markup with standard Bootstrap 5 markup through Twig templates built as Single Directory Components, and adds little CSS beyond layout. The project says so itself: the base theme "has no style rather than layout", and the SASS Barrio Starterkit sub-theme, which compiles a custom Bootstrap build from your variables, is the intended way to use it. It declares layouts for cards, media and two to four columns for Layout Builder, loads Bootstrap through Composer, includes an off-canvas menu and Bootswatch, and no longer needs jQuery as of 5.5. Pick Barrio when a developer will build the theme and you want to stay close to Bootstrap's own conventions. It also ships AI skills for sub-theme configuration and for upgrades from Bootstrap 3 and Barrio 4. Maintained by Hatuhay. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/bootstrap_barrio). *Barrio has no demo; this is its project image on drupal.org. A new Barrio site looks like unstyled Bootstrap 5 until a sub-theme gives it a design.* ## 3. Radix: a component-based Bootstrap 5 base theme **Base theme · 6.0.9, released 17 September 2026 · Drupal 10.3, 11 and 12.** Radix is a component-based Bootstrap 5 base theme with Sass, ES6, BrowserSync and BiomeJS bundled in. Version 6 uses core's Starterkit and Single Directory Components: you generate a sub-theme with `drush radix:create` and compile its assets with npm. A Radix command-line tool lists, adds and generates components, and there is a Radix AI skill for coding agents. Radix suits teams with a Node.js toolchain who want components with their own templates and styles; its documentation lives at docs.trydrupal.com. Maintained by shadcn with Ramsalt Lab, O8 and Chapter Three behind it. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/radix). *Radix has no demo; this is its project image. Every Radix site is a compiled sub-theme, so there is no default look to show.* ## 4. Solo: a settings-driven theme without a build step **Front-end theme · 1.0.39, released 22 October 2026 · Drupal 10.1, 11 and 12.** Solo is a stand-alone theme on the W3.CSS framework with vanilla JavaScript: 24 regions, 15 color fields per region and more than 50 color schemes, all set from the theme settings form, with no sub-theme, CSS compilation or Node.js required; a sub-theme is only needed for Twig overrides. It is the third generation of the W3CSS theme, and it brings a four-level menu with 14 layouts, five breakpoints, right-to-left mirroring and WCAG 2.1 AA features such as skip links, ARIA landmarks and keyboard navigation. A good choice for a site builder who wants control without a build pipeline. Its development status on drupal.org is "maintenance fixes only", though releases keep coming. Maintained by Flash Web Center. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/solo) · [Demo](https://unitedstarsofamerica.com/). ## 5. Tara: a business and portfolio theme **Front-end theme · 11.0.9, released 4 May 2026 · Drupal 9, 10 and 11.** Tara, by Drupar.com, sits on core's Stable 9 base theme with a flexbox and grid layout, a built-in homepage slider, drop-down menus, shortcodes and font icons (Bootstrap Icons and FontAwesome 4, 5 and 6), and it needs no contributed module. One, two and three column page layouts and a custom maintenance page are included. A business, portfolio or blog theme you configure rather than build. Stable 9 is removed in Drupal 12, so check for a Drupal 12 release before you upgrade. Support is through the issue queue only. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/tara) · [Demo](https://tara.drupar.com/). *The demo shows the vendor's placeholder copy.* ## 6. Vani: a theme for business and consulting sites **Front-end theme · 11.0.2, released 17 October 2025, last release more than a year ago · Drupal 9, 10 and 11.** Vani is Drupar.com's theme for business, consulting and personal sites: Stable 9 base theme, flexbox layout, a built-in homepage slider, a full-page search form and self-hosted preloaded fonts, with no contributed modules needed. Optional Google Material and FontAwesome icons, custom CSS from the settings form and a scroll-to-top button complete it. Compatible with Drupal 11 and marked as actively maintained, but, like Tara, built on Stable 9, which Drupal 12 removes. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/vani) · [Demo](https://demo2.drupar.com/vani). ## 7. Xara: a multipurpose sub-theme of TheX **Front-end theme · 11.0.1, released 17 September 2025, last release more than a year ago · Drupal 9, 10 and 11.** Xara is the third Drupar.com theme on this list and the one with a contributed base theme: it requires TheX, version 11.0.0 or later on Drupal 11, which you install first. Flexbox layout, a built-in slider, drop-down menus, shortcodes, FontAwesome 4 and 5 with per-library switches, self-hosted or CDN Google Fonts and a sliding search form. Install TheX first, then Xara. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/xara) · [Demo](https://demo2.drupar.com/xara). ## 8. Belgrade: the Bootstrap 5 theme for Drupal Commerce **Commerce theme · 3.1.0, released 12 August 2026 · Drupal 10 and 11.** Belgrade is the Bootstrap 5 theme Centarro builds for Drupal Commerce, designed around Commerce Kickstart and Layout Builder, with Bootstrap Icons, predefined product teaser designs and theme settings for fonts, the off-canvas navigation and messages. Its tooling is Laravel Mix on Webpack with PostCSS. If you sell with Drupal Commerce, start here. The live demo is the Commerce Kickstart demo store. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/belgrade) · [Demo](https://commerce.demo.centarro.io/). ## 9. Bootstrap5: plain Bootstrap 5, as is or sub-themed **Base theme · 4.0.8, released 13 February 2026 · Drupal 10.1 and 11.** The 5.0 branch, 5.0.0-beta1 of 14 October 2026, adds Drupal 11.4 and 12; as a beta it is not covered by Drupal security advisories. Bootstrap5 wraps the Bootstrap 5 library with a settings form, a style guide page, CKEditor integration and a sub-theme generator in the admin interface. Use it as it is, or generate a sub-theme that overrides Bootstrap's `variables.scss` and recompiles. The 4.0 branch adds Bootstrap Icons, Bootswatch, dark mode and CSS variables; jQuery is not required. It is also DXPR Theme's base theme, so two themes on this list share it. Maintained by Tomato Elephant Studio. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/bootstrap5). *No demo; this is the project image on drupal.org.* ## 10. Olivero: Drupal's accessible default theme **Front-end theme · in Drupal 11 core, deprecated in 11.5 · contributed 2.0.0, released 21 September 2026, for Drupal 11.4 and 12.** Olivero has been Drupal's default front-end theme since 9.4, and Drupal 11.4 still ships it in core. Drupal 11.5 deprecates it and Drupal 12 removes it, so the contributed project, with the same configuration, regions, templates and settings, is how a site keeps Olivero on Drupal 12. It was built with the Drupal Accessibility Team and the National Federation of the Blind, and is named in memory of Rachel Olivero. Accessible, mobile-first, colorable and with thirteen regions, it is a dependable choice for a content site that does not want a framework theme. Maintained by mherchel with Dripyard, Lullabot and Tugboat. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/olivero). *The project's design rendering; a standard Drupal 11.4 install shows the theme itself.* ## 11. Bootstrap Business: a ready-made company theme **Front-end theme · 2.0.1, released 26 June 2025, last release more than a year ago · Drupal 10 and 11.** More than Themes rebuilt their free corporate theme on Bootstrap 5 as a sub-theme of their BaseCore base theme (drupal/basecore), which you install as well, for Drupal 11 and Drupal CMS. The design is based on an AyoThemes template and aims at small business and corporate sites that present products, services, team, clients, news and events; it styles the Drupal CMS components. A finished look out of the box for a company site. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/bootstrap_business) · [Demo](https://bootstrap-business.morethanthemes.com/). ## 12. Tailwind CSS Starter Kit: utility classes for Drupal **Starter kit · 5.0.0, released 25 May 2026 · Drupal 8 through 11.** A starter theme for Tailwind CSS in Drupal: it ships a package.json, a Tailwind configuration tuned to Drupal's default markup and precompiled CSS, so you can enable it without running a build, then copy and rename it as the start of your own theme. The 5.0.0 release is the first stable one after the alphas and declares itself compatible with Drupal Canvas. The project notes it is not endorsed by Tailwind Labs. For teams that already think in utility classes; for a Tailwind theme that is ready to use, see Mercury below. Maintained by Oliver Davies. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/tailwindcss). *No demo; this is the project image on drupal.org.* ## 13. ZURB Foundation: the Foundation framework for Drupal **Base theme · 9.0.0-beta3, released 15 December 2025, a beta with no stable 9.x · Drupal 9.3, 10 and 11.** The Drupal implementation of the Foundation front-end framework: templates plus a Gulp workflow that compiles CSS from SCSS, so you prototype with Foundation's grid and components. The 9.x branch uses Foundation 6. Of its companion modules, only XY Grid Layouts has a Drupal 11 release. The only Foundation theme on the list, and still in beta, so not covered by Drupal security advisories. Maintained by kevinquillen, with Acquia and Velir among the sponsors. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/zurb_foundation). *No demo; this is the project image on drupal.org.* ## 14. AdaptiveTheme: sub-themes from a generator **Base theme · 7.1.1, released 2 February 2025, last release more than a year ago · Drupal 10 and 11.** AdaptiveTheme is for people who do not want to write code: sub-themes are generated with the AT Tool module's theme generator and configured in the admin interface, with per-breakpoint column layouts, eight responsive menu styles, web fonts, Flexslider slideshows and layouts for Display Suite, Paragraphs and Panels. Developers get a SASS and Grunt kit. The base theme itself is never set as default; the generator creates the theme you use. An established name whose last release dates from February 2025 and whose project image still shows a 2016 Drupal 8 demo. Project owner Jeff Burnz. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/adaptivetheme). *The demo domain is parked; this is the project's 2016 image on drupal.org.* ## 15. Gin: the admin theme editorial teams install most **Admin theme · 5.0.16, released 14 October 2026 as a security update · Drupal 11.2 to 11.x (4.1.4 covers Drupal 10.3 to 11.1).** Gin is the most-installed contributed admin theme, with about 147,000 reported sites, and the design behind core's new Default Admin theme. It is built on Claro, with a redesigned layout, dark mode, accent and focus colors, a vertical or classic toolbar and layout density settings. Install it with the Gin Toolbar module; companion modules cover login, Layout Builder, Gutenberg and dashboards. It changes nothing for visitors and a lot for editors. Keep it updated: every release before 5.0.16, and before 4.1.4 on the 4.1 branch, is marked insecure. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/gin). ## 16. Claro and Default Admin: core's admin themes **Admin themes · Claro in core up to Drupal 11.4, Default Admin stable from 11.5 · contributed Claro 3.0.0, released 19 September 2026, for Drupal 11.5 and 12.** Claro is the admin theme of Drupal 10 and of Drupal 11 up to 11.4, built under the Admin UI modernization initiative. Drupal 11.4 adds an experimental Default Admin theme based on Gin's design; Drupal 11.5 makes it stable and the default and deprecates Claro, and Drupal 12 removes Claro from core. The contributed Claro 3.0 is a clone of the core theme for sites that keep it on Drupal 12. On a new Drupal 11.5 site you get Default Admin without installing anything; add the Claro project only if you want to keep Claro after Drupal 12. [Claro project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/claro). ## Also worth knowing - **Mercury** is the default front-end theme of Drupal CMS: built on Tailwind CSS and Single Directory Components for Drupal Canvas, the page builder in Drupal CMS. Latest release 1.0.5, 2 June 2026, for Drupal 11.3 and later. [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/mercury). - **Bootstrap** (drupal/bootstrap) is the most-installed contributed front-end theme, with about 91,000 reported sites. Its 8.x-3 branch is a Bootstrap 3 base theme, and 8.x-3.45 of 21 October 2026 supports Drupal 10.5 to 12; the 5.0 branch is a Bootstrap 5 rewrite (5.0.2, 10 June 2025, Drupal 10.3 to 11). [Project page](https://www.drupal.org/project/bootstrap). ## Questions about Drupal 11 themes ### Which theme does Drupal 11 use by default? On Drupal 11.4, the Standard profile installs Olivero for the front end and Claro for administration, both from core. Drupal 11.5 deprecates both and switches to the new core Default Admin theme, based on Gin's design. Drupal 12 removes Olivero and Claro, so a site that keeps them adds the contributed projects before upgrading. Drupal CMS installs Mercury and Gin. ### Can I use a Drupal 9 or Drupal 10 theme on Drupal 11? Only if the theme declares Drupal 11 support; Drupal refuses to install a theme that does not. The release notes and the project page on drupal.org show which Drupal versions each release supports. Every theme on this list supports Drupal 11. ### Are these themes free? Yes. Everything published on drupal.org is open source under the GPL, which is why commercial theme marketplaces are not on this list. Some maintainers sell services or paid products around their theme; the theme itself is free to install. ### How do I install a Drupal 11 theme? Add the project with Composer (`composer require drupal/